Former leading New Zealand publisher and bookseller, and widely experienced judge of both the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Montana New Zealand Book Awards, talks about what he is currently reading, what impresses him and what doesn't, along with chat about the international English language book scene, and links to sites of interest to booklovers.

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

An Open Letter to Authors At Tables In Bookstores

MISSED CONNECTION: You were an author of some age and gender, sitting at a small table at the front of the book store, radiating keenness, surrounded by some of your books, and various sundries. I am a strange man bumbling around a bookstore with all the grace and delicacy of a stunned badger, and I too am radiating a sort of keenness, because I will buy more or less any book I can get my hands on. We missed each other because I saw your table, and I went the other way and avoided you like the plague. Like a literal plague.And I’m so sorry.This happens with me constantly, and has done since I was a teenager. Mostly at bookshops, occasionally at craft fairs, or anywhere that an author can persuade someone to let them set up a table. Once or twice, it’s happened in malls I frequent. It’s very often a self-published author, but not always. Most recently, it happened at a convention, where I had an amazing time…but I spent half the time skirting a couple of hallways like they were minefields, because they were full of such elaborate tables and keen to the max authors.More